This is Bigger than a “Gay Victory”

It is very gratifying to finally have a substantial legal victory in the fight for marriage equality. Let’s face it…it is LONG overdue.

As I happily watch the Tweets mount up from across the country, the one thing that rubs me the wrong way is everyone pointing to this as a “Gay Victory.” Make no mistake about it…this is a victory for the framework that has kept our Nation together for over 200 years…The Constitution of the United States of America.

In his ruling today, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said, “Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians.” This statement strikes a similar tone to the historic Brown vs. Board Education ruling of the Supreme Court in 1954, which proclaimed establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities was unconstitutional and thus violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. (Sound familiar)

Brown vs. Board of Ed served as the catalyst for integration and the Civil Rights Movement. We can only hope that the overturning of Proposition 8 will do the same for marriage equality.

In the meanwhile, let’s not belittle the victory by proclaiming it a “Gay Victory.” Doing so only feeds into the small mindedness of those who will continue the fight to deny marriage equality for same-sex couples.  

Instead, let’s us stand together and embrace this as a victory for ALL Americans.